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To say that the last few weeks have been stressful would be a little bit of an understatement. I am very happy to know that I have the ability to sit down, read, comprehend what I read, try things out and, in the end, build anything I set my mind to… even a damn WordPress website when I know nothing about codes, local hosts, WAMP, port 80, IIS, HTTPAPI 2.0, html, css, php, mySQL, myPHPadmin, how to turn a PC computer service from on to off, wp-content folders, wp-options files, how to edit a database, or what an upload path is. To be honest, I don’t quite know how this website got up - even when the exact same things I’d been trying all afternoon suddenly worked for a faceless tech talking to me over the phone. I have NO IDEA why it worked for him and not me! But I am not complaining!

I haven’t been alone in this accomplishment… I have to thank Google, WordPress.org, the WordPress Codex, countless tech blogs and the millions of people who write about the tech crap they went through before I did all this. Thanks to their efforts, it only took me 4 hours to do something when it took them 8. I am beyond grateful for the amazing service dude, Brandon, I just spoke with at our hosting company. After talking with numerous people over the past week, he really knew what the hell was going on. For a couple of days it sounded like I knew more about their hosting service than they did. And that’s truly scary! I don’t know what magic wand he was using but he got this site up and I am FOREVER grateful. I kind of wish I had found him a few days ago, but hey – BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!

I also have to thank the really nice, nice man who called me after I sent him a crazy email message this afternoon. I did a Google search for ‘WordPress Web Developers’ in Salt Lake City, UT and he was the first person to pop up. His name was Gwyn Fisher. He called me back in 20 minutes and helped me figure out that at least I was doing the right thing. He sent me a hard to find plugin that should have helped me export my SQL database from my localhost server with all the right information so it could be uploaded to the domain server with ease. I stumbled on the ‘New Upload Path’ field in the plugin – a detour that took me three hours and led me to Brandon – but I feel deep in my gut that it was his plugin that finally made sure all the content contected the way it should have. You want proof? I have none.

I want to thank Nathan putting up with me working on this for 8 hours a day and ignoring him and Natosha for her undying support, wonderful phone conversations, and her great, decisive feedback while I built this thing. It is equally her imput as it is mine. I have to thank all the amazing photographers whose pictures will be showcased on this website – right now the majority of the photos come from the outstanding Chris Peddecord. I haven’t had time to update all the photo credits… but I promise I will as soon as I stop dreaming about PHP code and MySQL database lines.

And if this sounds like an OSCAR acceptance speech – your DAMN right it does! I desirve it! I feel like I’ve climbed Mt. Everest. That is the really big mountain in Nepal, right?

Regardless of my ranting above, please let us know what you think of the new site. I’m sure I’ll rest for about two days and then start thinking about what to do next! We’d love to hear your ideas, thoughts, and feedback!